Crossroad Deals
by Zgirl714
Summary: Eve meets up with a representative of the watcher's council in a most unlikely place.


Title: Crossroad Deals  
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel  
Pairing/Characters: Eve & Dawn  
Rating: Teen  
Setting: Future fic, but not really comics canon. Spoilers for the last season of Angel.  
Summary: Eve had been a child of the senior partners. Emphasis on the past tense.  
Notes: This is written for Tegan in response to a prompt that I originally gave to her. Oops. :D This is a dark little future ficlet that I have no real explanation for.

Eve had been a child of the senior partners, born of fire and darkness, straddling the abyss and now she was just an overly tattooed human with criminal tendencies and emotional baggage out the yin-yang. The innocent face, preserved in hellish immortality, had aged and hardened in her six years on the run. Eve still got carded at bars, but vampires gave her a wide berth. She no longer looked like prey but the predator she always was. Escaping L.A and dodging the agents of the senior partners all the way across the southern United States had been her true education. She had learned tricks on the bayous and in the back woods that would have thrice damned her soul, if it wasn't heading straight down anyway. Then it had been a few detours around the world before she found herself at a dive bar in the middle of nowhere in Croatia waiting on the bartender to bring her a beer.

"This has been a long time coming." A cheerfully young voice said behind her. A hint of power lingered in the air but it didn't feel demonic.

Eve might have signed away her immortality but she could still sense the supernatural. She hadn't ever felt anything like this; it put her on edge. She always kept an attack rune attached to a bracelet, but she did miss the shiny mage-made gun she had to leave in Havana. She spun, stool squeaking in violent protest, to see a beautiful woman with doe eyes and legs that stretched to heaven. Eve raised her rune, palm facing out to ward off the evil eye, before she tried to cover her surprise, so much power in a tiny human. "Too bad we'll have to cut this short."

"No! I have a deal for you!" The other woman touched her on the wrist, nerves clearly showing through, as her voice squeaked. "I'm not with Wolfram & Hart or any other demon sect." Clad in a salmon dress that reached her knees with a chic tailored black blazer, it was clear that the woman tried to look older and more sophisticated than her seemingly twenty-four years, especially with the librarian bun and fashionably over-sized glasses. It worked for her however. The slick professional get up only emphasized her fresh beauty. Her kitten heeled shoes were to die for.

Eve wondered if they were close in size because it had been so long since she had had pretty things. If she had to kill this mystery woman, she would hate to leave those designer shoes behind. And that jacket. It was one of those classic pieces that matched everything and could be dressed up or down. She couldn't let that get trapped for eternity in a police evidence box. Eve hoped she looked more thoughtful than morbidly greedy as she checked out the other woman.

"Neither I nor my employers want to cause you any harm." The girl put on what probably was her most businesslike tone as she drew back from Eve.

Eve lowered her wrist, chiding herself, she had to stop dropping her guard for a pretty face. That's what had gotten her into trouble in the first place. She had a second of mental debate before compromising. Her other hand reached to where she had a knife hidden on her back. "Go on, doll face. I'm not going to listen forever and only those big pretty eyes are keeping me in this seat and you alive."

"I'm with the Watcher's council." She drew herself up, and there was something familiar about her face.

Eve rolled her eyes despite the fear that grew deep in her gut. If some watcher was able to find her then the Senior Partners couldn't be far behind. "Okay, time is up."

"Wait, we could protect you." The girl bit her lip before she settled herself. "No more running or hiding."

Eve raised her eyebrows and nodded. "Right. Now, what's your name?"

"Dawn." The girl seemed to rally herself and lifted her chin.

"Okay, Dawn, why would the illustrious council want to take in a stray like me? Hugs? Cookies for the Wednesday slayer meeting?" Eve laughed as the bartender came back, she ordered two beers in mangled Croatian. Despite herself, she missed conversation that had a relatively low danger level. Sure, she was probably talking to a slayer and could get herself beaten to a pulp, but it was unlikely that the watchers would boil her in oil which made Dawn a step up from her usual company. Eve could probably hitch a ride off the girl to evade the law firm before ditching Dawn later on. Eve grinned. "Or maybe, you guys want me to be a counselor at Camp Slayer and help build up the girls' self esteem as we whittle stakes and go hiking."

Dawn smirked. "You gotta work your way up to Camp Slayer." She moved closer and the hem of her dress brushed against Eve's knees as she reached for her beer bottle. Dawn smiled at the bartender. "Hvala."

The stout man nodded. "Molim."

Eve slapped some cash, after making sure if was the right currency, on the counter with enough of a tip to make the bartender respect her wish for privacy. "Usamljenost."

Dawn took a gulp of her beer before she said, "We need information. The council now has the resources for expansion." She looked Eve up and down, taking in her dusty jeans, scuffed sneakers, and black t-shirt that has more than one old blood stain on it, with an gaze that made Eve want to blush and wish she hadn't just thrown her long hair into a ponytail. "All those slayers need something to do. Wolfram & Hart has always been too big to take down, but we're getting bigger."

"Let me stop you there." Eve shook her head with a mirthless smirk before sipping her beer. "Wolfram and Hart aren't multinational, they're multidimensional. You can't really take them down with a single army of slayers."

Dawn nodded with a hint of contempt. "You don't say." She smiled, hand on her hip, before she said, "The council is more concerned about intelligence gathering at the moment rather than direct conflict. We'd like to add to our archives more information about the Wolf, the Ram, and the Hart. You are uniquely positioned to give us a new perspective on the whole operation."

"Got any credentials? Or hey, any proof that once you get what you want that you won't kill me?" Eve drank her beer.

Dawn took off her glasses and smiled as she rubbed them on her dress one-handed. "In your head, you've been calling me girl and doubting my ever word and mulling over how badass you are in comparison to the nerdy watcher girl." She twirled the glasses. "I don't even need these. Its for the look." She put them back on. "Lets drop with the act-that you're not cursed and I'm not the slayer's sister and inter-dimension key. You've kept up a good tough facade, but I know that you're desperate. You should be roasting in hell for your betrayal and, lets be real, you're maybe two steps ahead of the senior partners on your best day. Its a surprise to most that you made it this far." Dawn cocked her head. "Can you really keep it up?"

That sense of familiarity around Dawn made sense now. Eve couldn't help clenching her jaw and looking away. All that the other woman said was true. Hell, Eve wouldn't have been surprised if agents of Wolfram & Hart were closing in the on the place as they spoke. She let her eyes drift around the smokey hole-in-the-wall bar, looking for the best modes of escape, while she tried to get her game face back on. She had shit for choices but she needed to make the best of them. "Probably not, to be honest." Eve composed herself before returning Dawn's gaze. "I read about you when I was researching for my job as Angel's liaison."

Dawn shrugged very casual-like, though a hint of smugness lingered in her expression, before she said, "I'll let you think my offer over. Just remember," she paused as she held out her right hand, palm face up, before saying, "life on the lam." Dawn held out her left hand, in the same way, as she said, "Or protection and compensation for your time."

Eve nodded, fingers tightening around her beer bottle, as her eyes narrowed. "I assume room and board is going to be thrown in because once I enter Slayer headquarters, I can't leave until I'm trusted and between you and me, given my past experiences, that won't happen."

The other woman pulled out a cellphone her jacket pocket and looked at the time before stowing it away again. Dawn chugged the rest of her beer before wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "Ya know, we can talk about this or we can get out of here because there are some hella bad guys after your trail and they should be here sooner rather than later."

A vehicle drove into the dirt parking lot outside the roadhouse. The windows were darkened by grit and grease so she could only see the outline of a dark SUV. Eve felt the energy of a dark mage outside as she heard the SUV door slam shut.

Dawn frowned. "That was a lot more nowish than I wanted." She pulled out a flat, intricately carved, stone from the other pocket. "Decision time, Eve. Certain death or roll the dice with me."

Breaking the beer bottle, Dawn cut her wrist with the jagged glass handle, wincing, before she dropped it. She looked up at Eve through her eyelashes. Her blood dripped down her wrist to the stone in her hand.

"Take me to your leader then." Eve finished the last gulp of her drink before clinging tight to it. She had no idea what would be on the other side of this portal. A knife, a Croatian beer bottle, and some mystical trinkets in her pockets weren't much, but they were better than nothing.

Dawn grabbed Eve's hand with a smirk as the brilliant and roaring portal opened up and tugged her inside.


End file.
